| INTERVIEW
WITH KAIPA (italian version) by Giancarlo Bolther 20 years stop, why this come back? In 1982 the last version of Kaipa decided to take a break. This break was going to last for almost 20 years. I continued to work with my own music and recorded three solo albums. In 1989 I released the last one called “Houses”. After this I became in some way tired of the whole music business. There was no good condition for the type of music I was doing during these years. I became the father of two daughters and I thought it was nice to be able to spend much time at home. I continued to write new songs but nothing was recorded. In the 90’s there was a rebirth of the “progressive rock” and my old Kaipa partner Roine Stolt started up the band “Flower Kings”. In 1996 fiddle player Anders Rosén asked me to be part of a new project called “Hagen”. The idea was to make a record mixing Swedish folk music and heavy rock. I thought this was an interesting idea, and I saw it as a challenge and a possibility to learn more about the roots of the traditional Swedish music. The record “Hagen: Corridors of time” was released on the German label Angular Records in 2001. Working with this record gave me a lot of new inspiration in my own writing. Maybe this was the injection I needed. In the beginning of 2000 I started to compile the best songs I had written, convinced that time was on my side, and that I had to do something about it. I contacted Roine and presented my ideas. That was the beginning of the new Kaipa. What was happened when you decided to break up in the eighties? The interest for “progressive rock” decreased, so we decided to take a break. Which memories about the seventies and the eighties do you like best? I think the period from the second part of the 60’s until the end of the 70’s was by all means “progressive”. I started playing in my first band in 1964 and was participating in this explosive period of the music history. This was definitely a great experience, and I think KAIPA is a result of being a part of all this. If the seventies was the white side, I think the eighties was the black side. I don’t think I have any special memories from this poor decade in the music history. This was the time of the drum machines and some really boring “synth” bands. Please don’t remind me of this period again. After so many years, how has the music business changed? Today the “global commercial music industry” is not interested in music. This is only business. I think record companies like Inside Out are extremely important today. They show respect to the music and the listener. I really hope the big record companies are digging their own grave. They really deserve it. And how much are you changed? I think I’m faithful to my own ideals. My life is filled with signs. They enter my consciousness from a musical universe somewhere inside of me. This universe is filled with an enormous power built on all the positive experiences I’ve captured through the years, and it guides me in my decisions of what’s right and what’s not. I think I act as a bridge between my inner universe and the unknown receiver in the outside world. I transform moods and feelings from inside my mind into music and words, to establish a connection with the audience and to transfer these feelings into the consciousness of the listener. I’ve grown in awareness that this is some kind of mission, and that I am a messenger. My mission brings joy into my life, and if I can bring joy into other peoples lives, and get their feedback, it’s like an enormous circle of energy built on creative capacity. Today our world is full of people trying to be famous. They don’t really care how they obtain fame. They have a lot of self-confidence but almost no self-knowledge, no higher mission. I am not interested in celebrity; it’s the contents of my music I wish to spread. The intentions behind the new Kaipa album are pure: to transform my basic musical ideas and feelings, and allow the outstanding musicians to bring their own colours and dimensions to bear on of this work of art. Do you think that the success of the Flower Kings helped your reunion? Definitely, I have been watching the growing interest in this band and I know that this is a result of a single-minded work from Roine. This has given me inspiration in my own work. How much this new record was musically influenced by the Flower Kings? Not at all. Roine and I worked together in Kaipa for many years. We have the same sources of inspiration, and so much in common. His way of playing the guitar is of course familiar to all the fans of The Flower Kings. I have only your first record and it seems very different from this new one. In your opinion which are the differences between your six records? With this new album I think we have built a bridge between the past and the present. I wanted a synthesis, to bring the best parts of my own musical history into the present, to add all my new knowledge and experience and try to create a new masterpiece out of these parts. The first album was recorded in 1975 and of course we have developed in many ways since then. Would you like to tell us about the new songs? It’s difficult to describe music in words. Please listen to the record or read the reviews on our homepage www.kaipa.info. Where would you place your new record in today's scene? Progressive rock with lots of influences from Swedish folk music. Is Notes From The Past an album of faith in the future, of passion for your work or of confirmation of what have you done over the past? I think it’s a mix of all these things; you have given a good description. How important is for you this new record? Extremely important, this is giving me the possibility to communicate with people in a musical way, and get their feedback, bringing new energy into my musical work. Can it be a new beginning? If you’re talking about Kaipa, there is already a new beginning and I’m sure we will continue this musical journey. What do you think about the new prog scene and how do you see yourselves fitting into it? The 70’s “progressive music” included, and was compelled by, an unending search for new challenges and an avoidance of repeating oneself. Today the term “progressive rock” mostly means bands lacking a musical identity, doing a pale reiteration of what other musicians developed mostly during the 70’s. With the new album I wanted to test the possibilities that arise when you allow yourself to be proud of your past without losing your present identity, and to search for new challenges. According to you what developments will be for progressive music in the next few years? I think the musicians working with this type of music must realize that the main inspiration must come from your own inside if you want to do a personal and interesting music, and I hope this is what people are requesting. I don’t think this world needs another 100 “clever carbon-copy bands” without an own identity. There are a lot of great bands from Sweden that play prog music: Flower Kings, Anekdoten, Landberk, Glory and many others, can we speak about a swedish prog scene? There are definitely a lot of great bands from Sweden, but I think the interest for this type of music is more spread outside Sweden. What do you think about the actual synphonic and progressive scene over the world? I hope that people finally will be tired hearing the same type of boring music on the radio every day. I’m sure there are a lot of people that would love the “prog music” if they only had the chance to hear it and be aware of that it exists. That’s the main problem and it’s our common mission to spread the knowledge about this music. Have you listened some of the new bands and there are some that you like? I listen to all types of music if I find it interesting. Of course I enjoy listen to some Kaipa related bands like The Flower Kings, Transatlantic and Ritual, they are all among the best. I also like the band Iona, they have this same folk music influence as Kaipa, but they are actually not a new band. What we can expect from Kaipa for the future? I am working with new songs for a new Kaipa album, so the story will continue. GB Interviews: 2005 Review (in italian): Notes From the Past; Keyholder; Mindrevolutions; The Decca Years; Angling Feelings; In the Wake of Evolution; Vittjar; Sattyg Related Artists: Flower Kings; Ritual |
